Archive - Jul 2009

Yet another massive Program Robot facility being built in Mahwah, NY for the high-frequency gamers. No doubt, filled with billions of dollars of supercomputers, huge boiler rooms staffed full of fast reflex teenage gamers, being supervised by 5'10" bikini-clad fembots wielding horsewhips to make sure the kids keep up with the computers.

"This is not to say that we are always willing to trade against HFT, but our job as an agency broker is to determine the right price and liquidity opportunities with which to interact in executing trades onbehalf of our clients."

A brief review is in order of the long term chart before heading to the short term daily charts. Since 1984, the 30 year has been hammering out intermediate term bottoms at key 50% retracements. See the examples from the Oct 1987 low, the Sept 1990 low, the Nov 1994 low, and the May 2004 to June 2007 lows.

Nothing like scaring the indirects shitless after the collapse in interest in yesterday's 5 Year auction. The Fed's yo yo game with the capital markets continues.

The Committee on Agriculture set to nuke CDS trading, compliments of GE reincarnator Barney Frank

Another surprise in bond land. This time an upside. The dealers do not know how to price all this paper.

For all who were wondering why CNBC is advertising products treating female pattern baldness, here is your answer.

With a title like "The 'Heads I win, Tails you lose' bank bonus culture", what's there not to like about Cuomo's latest. Also, sheds some light on why perpetuating a grossly inflated Ponzi market is where it's at come December.

As of 10 minutes ago, Larry Kudlow would like you to believe that Q2 earnings are so much better than Q1. That is a flat out lie. The chart below, straight out of Bloomberg which we demand all readers with a BBERG terminal replicate using SPX Index EA <go>, demonstrates that Q2 earnings are now in fact worse than Q1. While in Q1 the YoY EPS drop was -31.49%, as of right now the drop is -32.41%. And the drop in revenues is much worse.

With the VIX - S&P intraday correlations now broken on a daily basis, investors are now going long equity option implied correlation (factor linking individual member vols to index vols). With the VIX openly gamed, is the ICJ now the relevant indicator for portfolio insurance?

Zero Hedge would like to extend the invitation by Joe Ratterman to other critical Flash markets, such as Dark Pools of "Liquidity" and most specifically, Sigma X.

One wonders how open Goldman will be to shedding its SLP monopoly

"The government has its hands in 40% of the economy and when public sector officials can influence how banks can value their assets, how mortgage servicers should be doing their business, who shall fail in the financial industry and who shall not; and when we have a central bank that is not just the lender but the market of last resort, even for RVs, and a government willing to run up its deficit to levels that would have made FDR blush, then perhaps we can end up seeing a recovery occur sooner than we had thought."

Tim Geithner understands bubble peak demand and credit bubble pop supply.

Need a quick boost to the market? Just clutch at Barney's straw.